Monday, September 21, 2009

(Edit: Wow, just 5 days after my post, Wizards goes and publishes something called Weapon Specialization. In this month's Fighter Essentials article, there's a Fighter Weapon Specialization feat. And it's garbage. Therefore, I'll keep the name on my feats, since I see little chance that they will be confused with anything remotely playable)

For the conclusion of this series, I have saved a really strong batch of feats, most of which will suppose a large increase in damage output. Talk about power creep! The basic concept is quite straightforward: we take the two strongest weapon feats this side of the epic tier (Hammer Rhythm and Scimitar Dance) and we make them into a cycle.

Ok, there is a catch. This kind of feats is tolerably overpowered as long as you are doing conventional stuff (say, attack once per turn). However, like many things in the game, they get ugly when combined with multiattack powers. We are addressing this. Also, a full cycle of strong, damage increasing feats would lead to broken combinations involving weapons with multiple types, so we have to make sure they don't stack.

In short, we have changed the Hammer Rhythm template so that it only triggers once per turn, and we have grouped the feats and added rules preventing the use of more than one per attack. Since there is currently nothing in the game called "weapon specialization", and I rather like the term, I have chosen it for this group.

Weapon Specialization feats

Weapon specialization feats provide benefits when you miss with melee weapon attacks using a specific kind of weapon. If you have more than one weapon specialization feat that can apply to an attack, that attack can benefit from only one of them at a time. You choose which feat applies before making each attack.

Axe Sunder [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Str 17, Con 13Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with an axe or a pick on your main hand, the target gains vulnerability equal to your Strength modifier against the next attack you make before the end of your next turn.

Flail Whirlwind [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Str 17, Dex 13Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with a flail on your main hand, you can deal damage equal to your Strength modifier to a different target within melee reach. This damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain to weapon damage.

Hammer Rhythm [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Str15, Con 17Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee weapon attack with a hammer or a mace on your main hand, you deal damage to your original target equal to your Constitution modifier. This damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain to weapon damage.

Blade Feint [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Str 15, Dex 15Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with a heavy blade on your main hand, you gain a +2 bonus to the next attack roll you make against the same target before the end of your next turn.

Blade Dance [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Dex 19Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with a light blade, a scimitar or a falchion on your main hand, you deal damage to your original target equal to your Dexterity modifier. This damage receives no modifiers or other benefits you normally gain to weapon damage.

Spear Coordination [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Dex 15 or Wis 15Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with a spear on your main hand, one ally you can see gains a +2 bonus to his or her next attack roll against the target before the end of your next turn.

Staff Parry [Weapon specialization]Requirement:11th level, Con 15 or Wis 15Benefit:Once per round, when you miss with a melee or close weapon attack with a staff on your main hand, you gain a +1 bonus to all defenses until the end of your next turn.